The European Tour is in Austria this week for the Lyoness Open powered by Greenfinity and Joost Luiten is at the top of a very crowded leaderboard after the completion of two rounds. After shooting 65-68 over the first two rounds, Luiten is at 11 under par and one stroke clear of Paul Waring, Callum Macaulay and Eduardo De La Riva.

“It was good,” said Luiten. “I hit some nice shots in close for birdie. I didn’t make as many putts as yesterday but I’m really happy with the score. On this course you know you’re going to make a few bogeys but there are a lot of chances for birdie as well. You just have to try to stay patient and I think I did that well today.”

Luiten, a 27 year old from the Netherlands, is seeking his second career victory. The first came in 2011 at the Iskander Johor Open. He managed to card six birdies and just two bogeys on the day, despite facing the difficult Diamond Country Club course. He split his six birdies evenly between the front and back nine, while both bogeys came on the back.

Heading into this event, Luiten sat at 69th in the Race to Dubai. Should he continue his stellar play this week, he is sure to move up several positions, regardless of whether or not he holds on for the victory. This is his 12th event of the year and his results have been up and down. He has six top 25 finishes, two of which saw him finish inside of the top 25.